Friday, May 20, 2016

Flashback Friday: 1986 Indy 500!

May 1986I spent last Friday in Nashville, TN, and forgot to pre-post this. I'll post '96 and '06 next week.On Armed Forces Day, Dad took my sister, friend K, and I to the track for the final day of Indy 500 qualifications. We sat in Tower Terrace for a while, then Dad took me to the pre-arranged meeting place so I could meet up with JD, and we agreed to meet back at the car before the track closed.I spent an enjoyable afternoon with JD and his friends, and we even found his dad's firetruck and climbed up on top for a wonderful view of Turn #2. I had trouble climbing down, but eventually did it. I don't think I'll ever do it again, though!We even managed some private time under his tool box, with a blanket pulled down for privacy. Yes, that's my lone 'snake pit' experience. By the time we met up with my family, my father remarked, "Why is it when you're with your family, your shirt is tucked in, but when you're with him, it's knotted up to show off your mid-section?"I opted not to answer that!(Reprinted from May 2008):The race itself was a downpour. We huddled miserably under our rain gear, eating our sandwiches and watching the futile efforts to get the track dry. Everytime progress would be made, Mother Nature opened up the floodgates and the process would start all over again. The next day, it was still raining. We didn't make the trip to Indianapolis; we watched the progress on live TV. Dad said if things looked better by noon, we'd go. But once again, Mother Nature decreed no.

A week later, the weather was bright and sunny. We made fresh sandwiches, repacked the coolers, and off we set again. This time, everything went off without a hitch. Well, okay. Almost without a hitch! We parked in a different place than last time, and my sister and I set our own 'track record' by setting off in the opposite direction of our seats! We walked around the entire OUTSIDE of the track in 45 minutes...and did not beat our parents to the seats:) We did, however, see some interesting sights...we witnessed the Celebrity Caravan taking off; we joked about stealing an unmanned Pace Car (yellow Corvette! My favorite car!) and driving to our seats; and we pretended not to notice the drunk guy who offered to carry our heavy coolers for us.

And the race was awesome! My guy led several laps, and when an accident ocurred late in the race, I was jumping up and down with excitement, wondering if Kevin was going to win under the yellow light, or if the Safety Crew would get the track cleared in time to go green for the final lap or two. And since Dad's favorite driver, Bobby Rahal was in second place, we had a friendly rivalry between us.

With 195 laps down, the green flag waved. The crowd roared; we all got to our feet and cheered as the pace car pulled into the pits and the drivers hit their accellorators. The race was on! Kevin managed to hold off Bobby for lap 196, but the distance between them closed. Going into to 3rd turn, Bobby edged closer, and by turn 4, saw his chance and took it. He passed Kevin going into the home stretch, and even though Kevin continued to chase him for the final 3 laps, it was all over. Dad was jumping up and down and yelling; I was yelling at Kevin for not taking his spot back; Mom and my sister were also cheering for Rahal. But my sister very nicely said, "It almost happened...there's always next year!" Dad looked at me and said, "Experience wins every time!" and popped open another beer to celebrate.Next Month: Florida!************Present Day:This is the only weekend this month we don't have any commitments. The Tween has only one week of school left, so we're working diligently on Lit and History (he's caught up on the others). After a week of rainy, cold weather, I think we're supposed to have temps in the upper 70s the next two days. Which is good; we cleared out the basement on Monday, and now want to rearrange (attack??) the storage unit.Survivor Winner:Michelle beat out Aubry and Tai, though the true winner was Mark the Chicken! There was a twist this year; the winner of the final individual challenge (Michelle) won the right to vote off a JURY member! She voted for Neil.Tomorrow's Karaoke songs:Listen To The Flower People-Spinal TapLa Isla Bonita-MadonnaLady-StyxLady Madonna-BeatlesLand of Confusion-GenesisHave a great weekend!

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About Me

I've been writing since age 11, and wrote my first romance novel at age 19. I finally had the guts to seek publication for my series in 2002, much to the delight of everyone who's read my work and demanded to know why I wasn't published yet!